SINGAPORE — Even while she was under police investigation for peddling sham investments, a woman continued to swindle others, using part of her nearly S$300,000 loot to pay off her earlier victims.

On Tuesday (Nov 7), Neo Ngou Moy, 62, was sentenced to 32 months in jail, after she admitted to 10 counts of cheating. Another 21 counts were taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.

The court heard that Neo used the S$285,825 she fleeced from nine victims to repay debts she owed to unlicensed moneylenders, and to repay some of the victims from her scams. She has partially repaid S$32,300 — or around 11 per cent of the money she had cheated — to her victims.

In 2011 and 2012, Neo, who was also known as Sally, marketed a sham investment in Janssen beauty products to some of her friends and acquaintances.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Victoria Ting told the court that Neo claimed each box of these beauty products could be purchased in bulk at S$150 from the United States and sold for S$350.

Neo promised her victims monthly payouts that were proportionate to their investments.

In one instance between October 2011 and February 2012, Neo hoodwinked an acquaintance, 59-year-old Wong Ah Sen into investing in the products, promising her that she would get a monthly dividend of S$1,000 for each tranche of S$1,500 invested.

Ms Wong, who worked at a hair salon beside the beauty salon Neo was employed at, had confided in her about her financial difficulties. Neo said she would help Ms Wong invest the initial S$1,500, which she could repay thereafter.

In order to raise the funds for the non-existent investment scheme, Ms Wong sold off her jewellery, and her husband took loans from banks, DPP Ting told the court on Tuesday.

Between October 2011 and January 2012, Ms Wong only received S$17,300 in payouts. She was cheated of a total of S$108,200.

Around January 2012, Neo also cheated another acquaintance, Mr Khoo Chee Poh, into investing S$45,000 in the scheme.

Unable to pay Mr Khoo by March, the promised date of the first payout, Neo said she had family difficulties. Mr Khoo then threatened to lodge a police report when the payout was not given at the end of the month. Neo became uncontactable thereafter.

Neo told one of her clients Tan Chay Hua that the latter could stand to make a S$50 profit for every box of the products sold. Ms Tan invested S$20,000, and received S$2,000 as purported profit.

The court heard that Neo also misrepresented herself as the boss of a beauty salon and told an acquaintance that she hoped the two could invest in skincare products, and promised returns of 140 per cent.

In court on Tuesday, defence counsel Wilson Foo argued for a sentence of 30 months’ jail, saying his client suffers from heart problems.

Neo’s “amateurish” scams were of “low levels of sophistication”, and only involved the beauty industry, which cannot be compared with that of someone in a financial position, the lawyer added.

DPP Ting countered that the fact that Neo was not in a professional financial position was not a mitigating factor.

“(Neo’s) experience in the industry would have lent her scams greater credence and believability,” said the prosecutor.

That Neo perpetrated more scams even while under police investigation showed that she was “brazen, determined, (and had) a disregard for the law,” DPP Ting added, urging the court to impose a jail sentence of at least three years (36 months).

Neo’s 32-month jail sentence will be backdated to Sept 28, 2016, when she was first remanded. She could have been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, and fined, per charge.